...this, we will be reviewing the United States Government's anti-trust case against Microsoft that began nearly twenty-two years ago. To begin we will look at the history leading up to the filing, the government's argument, Microsoft's argument, and the outcome of the case. We will also look at the intent of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Specifically, how does the Sherman Anti-Trust Act protect consumers? Finally, we will discuss whether the anti-trust legislation actually accomplishes what it is intended to do, with respect to the technology industry. Microsoft has been under constant scrutiny since June 1990 when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched a probe into the possible collusion between Microsoft and IBM. Three years later, the FTC handed over their investigation to the U.S. Department of Justice. After years of accusations for monopolizing and engaging in anti-competitive acts, Microsoft finally, on May 18, 1998, received a suit for violation of federal anti-trust laws.[i] The suit alleges that Microsoft is in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and seeks to prohibit Microsoft from selling certain products and engaging in certain sales practices. Time Line of Events [pic][ii] The government's complaint contains four counts: 1. Microsoft illegally monopolized the market for operating systems (“OSs”) for personal computers (“PCs”) under paragraph 2 of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.[iii] 2. Microsoft...
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...| ANTITRUST LAW | | Name -Manpreet Kaur [Date] | “The mission of the Antitrust Division is to promote economic competition through enforcing and providing guidance on antitrust laws and principles”. Antitrust laws have been developed to create the strong foundation of a free & open market of a vibrant economy. Market is so competitive now a days, there are so many options available for products & services, which is the result of antitrust laws. Antitrust is developed to help both consumers & business owners. “These laws promote vigorous competition and protect consumers from anticompetitive mergers and business practices” Antitrust laws are developed by the U.S. Government, also commonly known as "competition laws". Antitrust law was put in place by U.S. Government to protect consumers from being vulnerable to exploitery business practices. Government protects consumers by ensuring that the competition which exists in the market is fair, & would also ensure that enforcement leads to an open-market which is consumer friendly. ANTITRUST LAW-GOAL & HISTORY The goal set by government is to protect the end user, consumer, antitrust laws “is to protect economic freedom and opportunity by promoting free and fair competition in the marketplace”. Consider being in a market with one option, what it would offer to consumers, technically nothing, because there are no options. Antitrust law ensure that the “Competition in a free market benefits American...
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...quicker than everyone else; so much so that they are the only ones that can effectively provide it. When this occurs, competing businesses and giant government entities will stop at nothing to shut it down. The Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act make up the current US antitrust laws. The antitrust laws are supposed to promote and protect competition. The philosophy behind the laws is that trusts and monopolies will stagnate markets and prevent others from engaging in healthy market competition. A monopoly is defined as a situation in which a single company owns all or nearly all of the market for a given type of product or service. (Investorwords, 2010) Antitrust law legislation started with the Sherman Act that was passed in 1890. The intent of the law was put in place to challenge the unchecked growth of corporations. By 1888, large corporations gained enough market muscle to dominate entire industries. The Sherman Act outlaws all contracts, combinations, and conspiracies that unreasonably restrain interstate trade. This includes agreements among competitors to fix prices, rig bids and allocate consumers. The Act also makes it a crime to monopolize any part of interstate commerce. Criminal prosecution will be filed if the Sherman act is violated. If found guilty, the violator can be fined up to $1 million and sentenced up to 10 years in federal...
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...THE UNFAIR COMPETITION LAWS INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to discuss the name and describe the different types of structural organizations used by multinational corporations. The different organizational structures are the parent company, the nonmultinational enterprise, the national multinational enterprise, and the international multinational enterprise. I will also discuss the home state regulation of multinational enterprises. The forms of regulations discussed in this paper will be the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Act and the Robinson-Patman Act. Also there effects on business in the 21st century. THE MULTINATIONAL ORGANIZATION The Parent Company To carry out operations internationally, large business have adapted their organizational structures to share risks and to take advantage of economies of scale. The simplest international operating structure is the “nonmultinational enterprise,” in which a firm organized in one country contracts with an independent foreign firm to carry out sales or purchasing abroad. Somewhat more complex is the “national multinational enterprise,” in which a parent firm established in one country establishes wholly owned branches and subsidiaries in other countries. The most complex is the “international multinational enterprise” made up of two or more parents from different countries that co-own operating businesses in two or more countries. (August, R. 2000, International Business Law) The Nonmultinational...
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...Antitrust law is the law of competition, and it is perhaps the least understood law of all. This article provides an overview and explanation of the essential principals of antitrust law, along with comments on certain recurring themes and recent developments in the voluminous case law by which the courts have struggled to give meaning and practical effect to the principal antitrust statutes. What Is Antitrust Law? Broadly speaking, antitrust laws seek to promote fair competition on the merits and to protect consumers and wronged competitor businesses from anti-competitive business practices — practices undertaken in effort to undermine competitive commercial behavior in a given market or line of commerce. The antitrust laws therefore forbid the wrongful acquisition or preservation of monopoly power, the abuse of monopoly power in order to establish a new monopoly, and concerted restraints of trade (i.e., business practices undertaken by two or more firms that improperly stifle or suppress “competition on the merits” in a given market). They also govern proposed mergers and acquisitions that are sufficiently large to constitute a threat to competition, and they address commercial practices that pose an arguable danger to competition on the merits in a properly defined antitrust market. The Principal Antitrust Offenses. Antitrust law is the law of competition. It is concerned with wrongs committed against competition on the merits in a given line of commerce or market. It is...
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...Lysine Scandal Levi Cushing Bus 670 Legal Environment Dr. Jason Lum January 19th, 2015 Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) was started in 1902 as a small linseed crushing business. As time moved forward ADM began acquiring other small agricultural companies. As more and more time move forward ADM began to branch into other parts of the agricultural business and added more and more products that they deal with. In 2015 ADM has grown to have several joint ventures and owning several other smaller agricultural, nutrition, and food related companies. ADM has also expanded globally and has more than two hundred and sixty five locations worldwide. As ADM has grown over the years different types of management has came and gone at ADM, but for a long time the owning families were the main people running the company full time. Over time ADM was caught doing small price fixing deals around the world. In the early 1990’s a large scale price fixing operation was unveiled by Mark Whitacre, who at the time was President of the bio-products division. Whitacre was an FBI informant for most of the early 1990’s, helping the FBI build a case against ADM’s top management at the time. The overall purpose of this paper is to identify the ethical and legality issues with price fixing related to ADM. ADM in relation to me is my main place of work and the price fixing issues still haunt the business today. ADM has started working on implementing stringent rules every year to help the company avoid...
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...Abstract The present paper is an analysis of the Antitrust law in Italy, and its relation with the conflict of interest. In this paper I have given a general introduction to the development of the Antitrust Law in the United States, and consequently in Europe and finally in Italy, and how it regulates the conflict of interest. It is mainly divided in three parts. The first part is an introduction, I have given a definition of what is a Trust, according to the Common Law, then I have explained how the corporate trusts were formed in America, and how and why the Antitrust Legislation was born, and how it has evolved. Therefore, I have discussed about the influence of the American Antitrust Law on the on the European Legislation covering this matter. In the second part, I have discussed about the Italian Antitrust Law, the monopoly of state and task of the Italian Competion Authority. In the third part, I have explained what is a conflict of interest and how the Italian Antitrust Law try to regulate it ( Frattini Law). At the conclusion I have mentioned some cases of conflict of interest in Italy, such as the one of the former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and how the former has not yet been solved. Keywords Trust, Antitrust Law Competition Authority Conflict of interest Frattini law Introduction Overview on the Antitrust Law in America and Europe The trust，definition Originally, a trust, in the Common law, is a relationship whereby property is held by one party for...
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...Business Practices Abstract The United States has many laws to further fair, balanced and competitive businesses. I believe these laws are useful and are put into place to protect businesses, organizations and consumers. These laws help protect against copyrighting, discrimination, insider trading and trademarking. Businesses must engage in ethical business practices which include abiding by government laws in order to be more successful and profitable. Bovee & Thill (2012) says that there is a great amount of concern regarding the ethics of business leaders, both current and future and the public seems to agree. The changing nature of business from manufacturing to knowledge technology has called for new levels of regulation on the part of federal agencies. Fair Balanced and Competitive Business Practices Business enterprises play an important role in the society. However, these enterprises could exploit other players in the market or affect consumers’ welfare in one way or another. In a bid to promote fair and competitive business practices, the United States formulated and implemented antitrust laws. Among them are the Sherman Act of 1890, Federal Trade Commission Act, and 1914’s Clayton Act (Broder, 2012). Over the years, these laws have proved adequate, suitable, and relevant in the business world. The primary objective of the aforementioned laws is to promote fairness and competition among businesses. In other words, these laws make it harder for business players...
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...9-700-082 DEBORA SPAR Forever: De Beers and U.S. Antitrust Law Educational material supplied by The Case Centre Copyright encoded A76HM-JUJ9K-PJMN9I Order reference F267708 CoursePack code C-788-275379-STU “As a worldwide dealer in enchanting illusions, Disney has nothing on De Beers.” - The Economist1 In 1999, a series of spectacular advertisements adorned the bus-sides and billboards of major American cities. Set against a lush black background, the ads displayed a perfect set of diamond earrings, or a single sparkling solitaire. The lettering, in white, was sparse and to the point: “What better time to celebrate the timelessness of love?” they asked. Or, “What are you waiting for, the year 3000?” Some were even more direct: “This wouldn't exactly be the year,” they noted, “to give her a toaster oven.” Coyly, the ads captured a joint fascination with the new millennium and the enduring allure of diamonds. How better to capture time than with a diamond, they urged. How better to herald eternal love? Indeed. According to analysts, U.S. diamond sales (30% of which occurred during the Christmas season) were expected to surge by more than 10%, hitting a high of over $20 billion for 1999.2 A significant portion of this windfall would flow to De Beers, one of the world’s most successful corporations and the controlling force of the international diamond market. There were many ironies behind De Beers’s millennial campaign, not least of which was that diamonds...
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...This is where antitrust laws come into play. The three core federal antitrust laws include the Sherman Act (1890), the Federal Trade Commission Act (1914), and the Clayton Act (1914). These three laws were put into place in order to attempt to prevent businesses from having an unfair monopoly in different markets (Blue, 2004).The Federal Trade Commission’s purpose is to promote free and open markets, which provide consumers with several benefits. These benefits include lower prices, higher quality products, because the companies are always competing with each other, greater innovation, and more products and services to choose from (www.ftc.gov). Obviously these acts were put into place long before the Internet was even conceivable, but the same principles can be applied to the Internet markets. Some think that the antitrust laws are enough to regulate the online marketplace, but others feel that more regulations need to be put in place. Virginia State Rep. Bob Goodlatte stated in 2014 that net neutrality regulation usually stifles innovation instead of stimulating it. If there is no innovation, there is no advancement as a society. He goes on to explain that antitrust law prosecutes on a case by case basis while new regulations do not, which can ultimately affect consumers (Goodlatte,...
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...J O I N T C E N T E R AEI-BROOKINGS JOINT CENTER FOR REGULATORY STUDIES The Antitrust Economics of Two-sided Markets David S. Evans Related Publication 02-13 September 2002 David Evans is Senior Vice President, NERA Economic Consulting. The author is extremely grateful to Howard Chang, George Priest, Jean-Charles Rochet, Richard Schmalensee, and Jean Tirole for many helpful comments and suggestions and Irina Danilkina, Anne Layne-Farrar, Daniel Garcia Swartz, Bryan Martin-Keating, Nese Nasif, and Bernard Reddy for their many contributions to the research upon which article is based. The author has worked for a number of companies in the two-sided markets discussed in this paper including Bloomberg, Microsoft, and Visa. © David S. Evans 2002. Abstract “Two-sided” markets have two different groups of customers that businesses have to get on board to succeed—there is a “chicken-and-egg” problem that needs to be solved. These industries range from dating clubs (men and women), to video game consoles (game developers and users), to credit cards (cardholders and merchants), and to operating system software (application developers and users). They include some of the most important industries in the economy. Two-sided firms behave in ways that seem surprising from the vantage point of traditional industries, but in ways that seem like plain common sense once one understands the business problems they must solve. Prices do not and prices cannot follow marginal costs...
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...Patricia Harris Busn 310-1103B Business Ethics Abstract There are instances where major manufacturers are protected by antitrust laws. Even though it may appear they are siding with a monopolistic power in the marketplace. On the other hand federal regulation commissions are hard at work in protecting the consumer from unfair treatment. The judgments under which such decisions are made require careful consideration of the intent of the companies involved and how they affect the consumer. Why would the drug maker want to stymie generic competition? Explain. One of the main reasons that a major pharmaceutical company would attempt to stymie generic competition is of course loss of revenues. The generic brand often times provides the same level of benefits but at a much lower costs, therefore the drug maker would lose million of dollars potentially by allowing the generic product equal opportunity. Another reason is that the cost of developing a drug, in addition to advertising and marketing the product oftentimes requires thousands of dollars be invested. In order to recoup the cost of research and design, manufacturing, compliance to federal regulations and the like, it is necessary for the product to be successful. Any competition will hinder potential success of the product. Consider the fact that companies must be successful to continue to have investors willing to resource projects, studies, and funding for research and development. If the company does not...
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...Running Head: PROTECTION FOR THE CONSUMER IN ANTITRUST LAWS Student Date Abstract There are instances where major manufacturers are protected by antitrust laws. Even though it may appear they are siding with a monopolistic power in the marketplace. On the other hand federal regulation commissions are hard at work in protecting the consumer from unfair treatment. The judgment under which such decisions are made require careful consideration of the intent of the companies involved and how they affect the consumer. Why would the drug maker want to stymie generic competition? Explain. One of the main reasons that a major pharmaceutical company would attempt to stymie generic competition is of course loss of revenues. The generic brand often times provides the same level of benefits but at a much lower costs, therefore the drug maker would lose million of dollar potentially by allowing the generic product equal opportunity. Another reason is that the cost of developing a drug, in addition to advertising and marketing the product oftentimes requires thousands of dollars be invested. In order to recoup the cost of research and design, manufacturing, compliance to federal regulations and the like, it is necessary for the product to be successful. Any competition will hinder potential success of the product. Consider the fact that companies must be successful to continue to have investors willing to resource projects, studies, and funding for research and development...
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...Article/Case Law Search Tina Thomas HCS/430 - Legal Issues in Health Care: Regulation and Compliance February 28, 2011 William Bross Article/Case Law Search The main function of the anti trust law in health care is to help keep the industry competitive and open so that any means of delivery service that are new or any new financing of health care services are able to compete for the acceptance by any purchasers. By developing these arrangements helps the competition such as providers, insurers, and any others and this is important to help prevent the fixing of prices, and any other agreements that may be allocated among the competitors. By enforcing the anti trust laws federally has helped to facilitate the delivery of health care systems that is efficient and has helped to challenge any efforts of any anticompetitive providers in health care delivery. Anti trust laws are a body of laws that help to prohibit any anti competitive behavior and any business practices that are unfair. These laws are made to help encourage competition in the workplace. These anti trust laws make many practices illegal and they may hurt consumers and businesses and can violate ethical behavior standards. In order to prevent failure within the market there are regulators along with candidates that are private which helps to apply the anti trust laws. These anti trust laws are supposed to help produce prices that are low and also make services and good better. These laws continue to be a...
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...[pic] NORTHCENTRAL UNIVERSITY ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET Student: John M.Kaykay THIS FORM MUST BE COMPLETELY FILLED IN Follow these procedures: If requested by your instructor, please include an assignment cover sheet. This will become the first page of your assignment. In addition, your assignment header should include your last name, first initial, course code, dash, and assignment number. This should be left justified, with the page number right justified. For example: | KaykayJSKS7000-8-5 | Save a copy of your assignments: You may need to re-submit an assignment at your instructor’s request. Make sure you save your files in accessible location. Academic integrity: All work submitted in each course must be your own original work. This includes all assignments, exams, term papers, and other projects required by your instructor. Knowingly submitting another person’s work as your own, without properly citing the source of the work, is considered plagiarism. This will result in an unsatisfactory grade for the work submitted or for the entire course. It may also result in academic dismissal from the University. | | | |SKS7000-8 |Dr. Milton Kabia ...
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